What New Brunswick asks of you
Two things at once. A set of employer eligibility tests that are checked at the time your candidate applies and will refuse their application if you fail them, being a valid registration with the Registry of Employers of Foreign Workers, twenty four months of active operation, a real and visible place of business, a genuine hiring relationship and a recruitment record. And, separately, a set of sector and occupation restrictions that decide whether the province will consider your candidate at all. The second set is published on a notices page rather than in the stream requirements, which is exactly why people miss it.
Check the restrictions before you check the requirements
Accommodation and food services is barred outright under the Skilled Worker and Express Entry streams and for Atlantic Immigration Program endorsement. A list of named occupations is blocked regardless of sector. New Brunswick Experience invitations have been limited to health care, education and construction since 4 May 2026 because of limited remaining allocation. And new Atlantic Immigration Program employer designations have not been accepted since 3 February 2026.
A candidate can satisfy every published requirement and still be outside the program. The full lists sit on the province's important notices page, they differ between the provincial streams and the Atlantic program, and both are expressed as including but not limited to the codes named, so the published list is not exhaustive. We do not reproduce them here, because a stale list of blocked occupations would be read as permission.
Where the employer sits in each route
New Brunswick did not restructure. It kept four streams and two pilots and restricted who may use them, so the question is less which stream than whether the province is looking at your sector at all.
| Route | Your role | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Skilled Worker, New Brunswick Experience | Central. A job offer, six months of full time work with you, and you must support the work permit where one is needed | Open but severely restricted. Invitations limited to health care, education and construction since 4 May 2026 |
| Skilled Worker, New Brunswick Graduates | Central. A job offer to a graduate of a New Brunswick institution, on the same employer eligibility tests | Open, subject to the February 2026 sector and occupation restrictions |
| Skilled Worker, Priority Occupations | The offer must result directly from a recruitment mission led by the province, so participation starts with WorkingNB rather than with a candidate | Open, narrow by design |
| Express Entry, Employment in New Brunswick | Your records more than your offer. Your employer eligibility is still assessed, and support is needed only if the worker needs a permit | Open, restricted |
| Strategic Initiative | Sometimes none. This is the French language route and it does not always require a job offer | Open. No sector restriction found in the province's notices |
| Business Immigration Stream | None. There is no employer | Open. No sector or occupation restriction found |
| Critical Worker Pilot | Everything, but only for six named employers. Applications are made through the participating employer and the province does not accept direct applications from candidates | Not open to broader participation. Cooke Aquaculture, J.D. Irving Ltd., Groupe Savoie, Groupe Westco, Imperial Manufacturing Group and McCain Foods, Ltd. |
| Private Career College Graduate Pilot | A job offer, but only for students already enrolled | Extended to the end of 2027 and confined to students already registered in eligible programs who would not have graduated before the original end date |
| Atlantic Immigration Program | Designation first, then endorsement of the candidate. A federal program with provincial gatekeeping | New designations paused since 3 February 2026. Existing designated employers continue. How designation works |
The Atlantic Immigration Program is not a provincial nominee stream and its restrictions differ from the provincial ones, which is why the two are treated separately throughout.
The Critical Worker Pilot is not an open route and should not be planned around. It is a five year pilot addressing critical shortages, run through six participating employers chosen on their track record with economic immigration programs and their newcomer supports. The province says opportunities for participation may present themselves in future. Where it does apply, a candidate has 45 calendar days from an invitation to file a complete application, and a nomination certificate is valid for six months.
The employer eligibility tests
Assessed at the time your candidate applies. If you fail them their application is refused, and the province may contact you for more information.
- A valid registration with the Registry of Employers of Foreign Workers. Free, valid for one calendar year, updated annually on or before the anniversary date, and required by section 38.9 of the Employment Standards Act rather than by the immigration program.
- Genuine and continuous active operations. Operating from a physical structure you own or lease, with a street address and a mailing address in New Brunswick, clear signage for the organisation at the location, and telephone service in the organisation's name.
- Twenty four months of active operation. In New Brunswick, providing goods or services, and you must be actively engaged in the New Brunswick operation.
- Good standing. Not in violation of applicable provincial and federal laws, including the Employment Standards Act and the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act and Regulations.
- A genuine employer and employee relationship. You must be involved in the hiring, directly or through a recruitment team you formed or contracted. A placement agency hiring someone to work for another employer cannot support the application. Neither the candidate nor their spouse or common-law partner may be a majority shareholder in the organisation supporting it.
- Transport truck drivers carry an extra test. For NOC 73300 your business must have been registered with the province's International Registration Plan for at least 24 consecutive months, and the registration must be valid.
The job offer, the wage and the recruitment
The wage test is a range test rather than a floor, which is unusual, and the recruitment test is lighter at the filing stage than it looks.
- The base wage must sit within the Job Bank range. For the same occupation in the specified region, and it must be consistent with your own pay structure. Only base wage is counted. Bonuses, commissions, tips, overtime, housing allowances, room and board and similar payments are excluded.
- An assessment sets a floor of its own. Where the worker was hired on a positive labour market impact assessment, the wage they are earning when they apply must be at least the wage in the assessment job offer.
- The occupation is assessed on duties. Supporting documents must show the position matches the lead statement and most of the main duties of the NOC code chosen. The province uses the classification to judge whether your labour need is genuine, and it may restrict codes in light of labour market conditions, application inventory and allocations.
- Licensing where the occupation is designated or regulated. The worker needs the appropriate licence or certificate.
- At least two recruitment methods. National or provincial print media, online media including career websites and social media, on-site signage, and job fairs.
- Four weeks of active advertising in the six months before the offer. Each advertisement must carry your name, the job title and main duties, the rate of pay, the city or town of work, contact details, the skills required and the work experience required.
- Proof is not filed, but it is disclosable. The province does not require the recruitment evidence at the time of application, and may still ask you for it to confirm compliance. Keep the file as you build it, because reconstructing it on request is where employers come unstuck.
Immigration New Brunswick assesses recruitment on whether the methods and duration favoured local residents, whether they match industry practice, whether the advertisement carried enough information to attract them, and whether the requirements or hiring criteria were written to favour a foreign candidate. A job advertisement demanding an overseas network or a language the role does not need is read as exactly what it is.
Where these files actually fail
In New Brunswick, more often on the province's restrictions than on anything either of you did.
- A blocked sector or occupation nobody checked. The bars sit on a notices page, not in the stream requirements, and the three lists differ from each other. Establish the sector and the occupation first, then the stream, then the requirements.
- An expired registry registration. It runs for one calendar year and needs an annual update. It is free, it takes minutes, and letting it lapse can refuse your candidate.
- A wage inside the range but out of line with your own pay structure. Both limbs of the test have to hold, and the second is checked against your other employees.
- Base wage confused with the package. Overtime, tips and housing do not count.
- An assessment wage that has drifted. If the worker came in on an assessment and their current wage is below the assessment wage, that is a defect on the day they apply.
- Waiting on an Atlantic Immigration Program designation that is not available. Intake has been paused since 3 February 2026 with no lifting date.
- Assuming the Critical Worker Pilot is a route. It is six employers.
What it costs, and who pays
| Cost | Amount | Who pays |
|---|---|---|
| Registry of Employers of Foreign Workers registration and annual update | No fee | You |
| Recruitment and advertising | Whatever it costs you | You, and it cannot be recovered from the worker. |
| Employer compliance fee, where you support a closed work permit | $230 through the federal Employer Portal, with the offer of employment submitted before the worker applies, remitted and repaid under s. 303.1(6) if the permit is refused or if you withdraw the offer and request a remission before it issues | You. The province states expressly that it cannot be recuperated from the worker in any way. |
| Atlantic Immigration Program designation | No provincial fee we could source | Not applicable while intake is paused |
| Provincial application fees charged to the employer | We could not source any | If you are told there is one, ask for the published source |
Immigration New Brunswick states that it cannot provide processing times and cannot guarantee an application will be decided before a work permit expires, so maintaining the worker's authorisation is a live obligation on both of you throughout. Anyone quoting you a New Brunswick processing time is estimating.
If the worker needs a permit, your willingness to support it is part of the eligibility test. The stream guides require the employer to be willing to support the application where a closed work permit is needed, which means submitting the offer of employment and paying the compliance fee. A candidate whose employer will not do that has no route here, however well they qualify.